Mark Gronowski’s Modest National Ranking Leaves Room to Prove Himself at Iowa

Excitement is up in Iowa City over new quarterback Mark Gronowski, but the national perception hasn't quite caught up yet.

Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski (11) walks through a drill at practice Thursday, April 3, 2025 in Iowa City, Iowa. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After years of poor quarterback play, the Iowa Hawkeyes have found a guy in South Dakota State transfer Mark Gronowski that they can trust to continue the offense’s steady progression under the direction of offensive coordinator Tim Lester.

Gronowski, a back-to-back FCS national champion and former Walter Peyton Award winner, is coming into his first FBS season recovering from a shoulder injury. Still, he’s ready to go in 2025 to continue to build his NFL Draft stock and get Iowa into contention for a College Football Playoff spot.

National Outlook Undersells Gronowski’s Winning Pedigree

Nonetheless, his inexperience at the highest level of college football, the perception of Iowa offenses over the years, and that shoulder injury do impact his national perception. The Athletic ranked all 134 projected starting quarterbacks across the country, and Gronowski ranked No. 39 on that list.

The rankings were separated by tiers, which landed Gronowski in the fourth tier among other quarterbacks across the country, many of them at the top programs, who have plenty to prove in 2025. Still, he did rank ahead of notable Big Ten QBs like Nebraska’s Dylan Riola (No. 40), Michigan State’s Aidan Chiles (44), Michigan freshman Bryce Underwood (50), and USC’s Jordan Maiava (54). 

Overall, Gronowski was ranked as the seventh-best Big Ten quarterback. Still, it’s a conference filled with unproven assets at the position outside of Penn State with Drew Allar. Unproven yet exciting talents like Ohio State’s Julian Sayin and Oregon’s Dante Moore were among the Big Ten quarterbacks ranked higher than Gronowski.

Iowa’s offense saw significant improvement last year in Lester’s first season with the program. Despite getting better quarterback play and a monstrous season from Kaleb Johnson in the backfield, though, the Hawkeyes saw their record worsen from 10 wins in 2023 to just eight a season ago.

This season, Gronowski will play behind one of the Big Ten’s best offensive lines, but the wide receivers and running backs surrounding him are largely unproven commodities outside of returning leading receiver Jacob Gill. For Gronowski to truly raise his stock in his final collegiate season, not only will he have to make Iowa more competitive against the conference and push for a College Football Playoff bid, but he’ll also have to prove his leadership qualities by raising the level of play in those unproven skill players.